Page:Remarks on the Present System of Road Making (1823).djvu/244



Mercurii, 28º die Maij, 1823.

SIR THOMAS BARING, BART.

In the Chair.

John Loudon M'Adam, Esquire, called in; and Examined.

You were formerly a magistrate, and commissioner of the roads in Scotland, were you not?—I was.

When did you first turn your attention to road making?—I was a commissioner and trustee of the roads in Scotland from the time of my return from America in the year 1783; and I naturally turned my attention to it there, because they had begun about twelve years before to make the roads turnpike, and they were carrying them on with considerable activity when I returned from America; and it appeared to me at that time, and all the time I was trustee, that there was a great deal of money expended needlessly, and with very little effect, on the roads, and that of course turned my attention to the cause. I began then to travel through different parts of the country to inspect the different managements of different parts of the road, first in Scotland, and then I went into England. In the year 1798, I came to live in England, at Bristol. I have no documents to prove my travelling before I came to reside in England